Conference calls today are typically initiated and joined using a complex series of steps. First, a person who wishes to organize a conference call must register a new account with a company that provides conference calling services. The organizer typically must provide the company with information such as a full name, address, phone number, e-mail address, a username, and a password. In some cases, the conference calling company may charge a monthly fee or per-minute fees for the ability to initiate conference calls, in which case the organizer might also provide the company with a credit card number, expiration date, security code, and billing address.
If the organizer is successful in opening a new account, the conference calling service typically provides the organizer with at least three long numbers: a dial-in number, a conference room number, and a moderator number. The organizer is instructed to provide prospective call participants with the dial-in number and conference room number for them to enter at a call time, but to keep the moderator number secret, for use in initiating the call at the call time. In some cases, the conference calling company provides even more numbers to the organizer. For example, the company might provide the organizer with both toll-free (e.g., 1-800 or 1-877) numbers and local ten-digit numbers that the organizer and participants can use as dial-in numbers, along with information about the different fees associated with dialing-in through the toll-free number(s) vs. the local ten-digit numbers. The local ten-digit numbers might be provided in a long list of local numbers corresponding to major metropolitan areas, which users can dial based on their current location to avoid fees associated with long-distance calls or fees charged by the conference calling company to use the toll-free dial-in number.
Thus, the organizer is often confronted with a web-page or e-mail containing as many as 20-30 different phone numbers and dial-in numbers, codes, and/or pins, at least two of which, and possibly more, the organizer must provide to prospective conference call participants. However, the organizer must be careful to avoid sharing the moderator number (sometimes referred to as the moderator pin) in place of the conference room number. In some cases, the conference room number (sometimes referred to as an access code or pin) may be a phone number familiar to the organizer, such as the organizer's phone number, or the moderator pin might be a ten-digit number that resembles a telephone number, adding to confusion associated with initiating and managing conference calls.
Even if an organizer successfully provides participants with the right combination of numbers (the correct dial-in number(s) and conference room code), and also retains the moderator number or pin for entering to initiate the call, additional problems may occur. First, any one of the prospective call participants may mis-dial the toll-free or local ten-digit dial-in number, and/or they might mis-dial the conference room code. In addition, the call organizer might mis-dial one or more of the toll-free or ten-digit dial-in number, the conference room code, and the moderator code. With these existing technologies, a conference call will only be successfully initiated if each and every one of the call participants and organizer correctly enter the more than nineteen digits assigned to them.
Moreover, because the dial-in numbers, conference room numbers, and moderator pins are not memorable, call participants are required to keep all of these numbers readily on hand when they are preparing to dial-in to a conference call. Anyone familiar with these dial-in techniques has experienced the frustrating process of looking back and forth between an e-mail, calendar invite, or paper, which contains the dial-in numbers, and a phone where those numbers must be entered. The process is susceptible to entering the wrong dial-in number or conference room code. Likely thousands of people each year experience the frustration of waiting on a conference call for another participant or organizer, only to find out that they or their other participants entered the wrong conference room code. Moreover, because these conference call numbers are not memorable, dialing-in while away from a computer, such as from a mobile device, is even more challenging. Participants have to write down the dial-in information before the call, or switch back and forth between a phone interface and e-mail or calendar interface to obtain the required access numbers. In short, existing techniques for initiating and joining conference calls are replete with inefficiencies and disadvantages, costing users significant frustration and wasted time and productivity.
Accordingly, a need exists for systems and methods for initiating conference calling using more modern telephonic and Internet technologies. More specifically, a need exists for systems and methods for initiating conference calling using a personal URL provided to call participants.